First-year head coach Brian Sharp has the VT men’s golf team headed in the right direction.
The beginning of the 2019-20 season brought many changes and a feeling of rebirth to the Virginia Tech men’s golf program. For the first time in more than 35 years, the Hokies had a new head coach. But as much as things changed, there was a sense of continuity in the air.
Longtime associate head coach Brian Sharp took over as the head coach to begin the season. Sharp had been named to the position in January 2019 before former head coach Jay Hardwick completed his 36-year run as the head coach through the end of the 2018-19 season and then headed into his well-deserved retirement.
Sharp and new assistant Todd Eckstein hit the ground running in the summer to get ready for the upcoming season. Recruiting was a primary focus, but the coaching staff also conducted a full examination of the way the program operated. Thorough and thoughtful, this process helped prepare the team for the fall season and beyond.
With a lineup that saw the return of all-time leading scorer Mark Lawrence Jr., a senior who had taken a redshirt year during the 2018-19 season, and junior Connor Burgess, who led the team in scoring average the previous season, the Hokies entered the fall with an experienced squad that boasted just one newcomer, talented freshman Daniel Azallion.
The fall season
The first event of the fall slate, the Battle at Briar Creek, was canceled due to weather concerns. So the beginning of the Sharp Era was moved to the following week at the VCU Invitational.
Lawrence picked up where he left off when the Hokies finally got on the course to begin the fall. In the first round in Richmond, at the very familiar Tuckahoe Creek course of the Country Club of Virginia, the Richmond native birdied six consecutive holes, had eight birdies on the round, and tied a school record with a 29 on the back nine of the first round en route to tying a school record with a 65.
Burgess also made his presence felt, as he recorded a hole-in-one in the first round, shooting a 33 on the front side and a 2-under 70 in the first round. The Hokies finished second in the event.
After a 13th-place finish at the Old Town Club Collegiate, where freshman Azallion led the Hokies, Tech competed in the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, a last-minute replacement for the canceled Battle at Briar Creek.
In Raleigh, Tech finished in eighth place as Burgess led the Hokies, also finishing in eighth place. His performance was highlighted by a 6-under-par 66 in the second round.
Traditional tournaments for the Hokies closed out the fall portion of the schedule. First was a trip down I-81 to compete in the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate. Tech finished ninth in the event with Lawrence finishing ninth with rounds of 69, 69, and 70 en route to his 8-under-par 208.
The fall wrapped up as it has many times in the past with a trip to the Grandover Collegiate in Greensboro, N.C., near the home offices of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Tech finished fourth in the event. Lawrence once again led the Hokies, tying for second overall, three strokes off the lead.
New faces on the way
Immediately after the Grandover, the coaching staff put the finishing touches on the fall recruiting season. The Hokies signed two players, Charlie Hanson of Richmond – who was the third-ranked player in the state – and Kobe Valociek of Peoria, Ariz., the sixth-ranked player in Arizona.
The spring season
The spring season once again began in Puerto Rico, but in a new tournament and on a course new to the Hokies. Tech competed in the Dorado Beach Collegiate, hosted by UNC Greensboro (just like the fall-ending Grandover Collegiate).
Tech got off to a very promising start, as the team was in fourth place in the 15-team event, just four strokes out of second place. And then, the rains came and never really stopped during the team’s time on the island.
After a couple of attempts to get play started on the final two days, the tournament was halted, and Tech took home its fourth-place finish. Burgess tied for fifth and Bradley de Beer, tied for 10th. Lawrence and de Beer each had eagles in the lone round, completing a solid start to what looked to be a promising spring slate.
An unexpected end
Two weeks later, the full squad headed to North Carolina for their annual spring break outing with the Hackin’ Hokies, the longtime booster group of the men’s golf program. At the end of the week, six players and the coaches boarded the team’s new Sprinter van and headed south to Statesboro, Ga. and the Schenkel Invitational, hosted by Georgia Southern University. During the team’s Thursday, March 12, practice round, the decision was made to return to Blacksburg out of concerns raised by the coronavirus. This, unfortunately, ended the season.
Though the final events could not be played, the 2019-20 season for the Virginia Tech men’s golf program showed much promise and a bright future. With all the uncertainty about the future, the look of many, if not all, of the collegiate golf teams is up in the air. But Hokies made the strides necessary to position the squad for future successes and a return to the ranks of the elite teams in collegiate golf.
